Speaker 1: Many of you hearing this may be too young to
Speaker 1: remember the exploding whale incident that occurred in Oregon in
Speaker 1: the late fall of nineteen seventy. Heck, I'm fairly certain
Speaker 1: that quite a few of you weren't even born yet,
Speaker 1: so I give you the basic overview. On November ninth,
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy, a forty five foot long sperm whale washed
Speaker 1: ashore on the beach near Florence. For three days. It
Speaker 1: sat there, drawing spectators local government officials alike. After the
Speaker 1: first day or so, people were warned to stay away
Speaker 1: from it. The official reasoning given was that there were
Speaker 1: concerns that certain onlookers might climb on top of the
Speaker 1: carcass and fall in. In addition to the putrid stench
Speaker 1: that overtook the entire beach and the threat of the
Speaker 1: body bursting in less than two days, the Oregon State
Speaker 1: Highway Division was called in to dispose of it. They
Speaker 1: consulted with the Navy and many munitions experts and came
Speaker 1: to the conclusion that the best way to treat it
Speaker 1: would be like a boulder, and used dynamite to blow
Speaker 1: it up in on November twelfth, with local and state
Speaker 1: news watching, They did just that, using half a ton
Speaker 1: of TNT and creating one hell of an explosion which
Speaker 1: sent chunks of whale and sand over one hundred feet
Speaker 1: in the air, even crushing in the roof of a
Speaker 1: nearby parked car. That's the official story, of course. It's
Speaker 1: all a load of hogwash, though, I know because I
Speaker 1: made the mistake of getting too close to it one
Speaker 1: night myself. Harvey was getting a little ahead of myself.
Speaker 1: Let me back it up. I was just a youngster
Speaker 1: back then, no more than eleven years old. I loved
Speaker 1: my folks in Florence, which back then was much smaller and,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, a much nicer place to live than
Speaker 1: it is today. I was sitting in the case waiting
Speaker 1: for my mother to finish making me waffles and eggs
Speaker 1: before being taken to school, when my father entered, having
Speaker 1: just stepped away to receive a phone call. What do
Speaker 1: they want, Gordon, my mother asked, turning to face as
Speaker 1: causing her black and white checkered apron to swirl slightly
Speaker 1: on her waist with a spatula in her hand. My
Speaker 1: father grunted as he sat back down on the table.
Speaker 1: The understanding actually apparently a sperm whale managed to beach
Speaker 1: itself out on the sand. They want me and a
Speaker 1: few others to go out to take a look at it,
Speaker 1: for it starts causing a nuisance. Dad worked for the
Speaker 1: local government, specifically the area of maintaining the beaches and
Speaker 1: parks for both locals and tourists alike. Can you take
Speaker 1: me over to see it, I asked excitedly. It had
Speaker 1: been years since a whale had washed ashore here, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to finally see what my father had spoken
Speaker 1: about dealing with once or twice before. He simply shook
Speaker 1: his head. Pray not, kiddo, he said, tessling my hair
Speaker 1: with his hand is grown up business, a little too
Speaker 1: dangerous to have your own. He began to chow down
Speaker 1: on the eggs and bake, and my mother brought to
Speaker 1: him maybe next time. He finished speaking around bites of
Speaker 1: his food. I hung my head, feeling slightly dejected as
Speaker 1: I began to eat my waffles and eggs. When I
Speaker 1: got to school, many of the kids were talking excitedly
Speaker 1: about the whale. I heard. It's huge, black stinks to
Speaker 1: high heaven. Christy, one of the girls who sat next
Speaker 1: to me, in mass class said to her friend in
Speaker 1: front of her eugh. Her friend retorted squnching up her
Speaker 1: nose and causing both girls to break into a fit
Speaker 1: of giggles, which was fast silenced by the teacher clearing
Speaker 1: his throat. Later, as I sat in the lunch room
Speaker 1: eating pizza squares and carrot sticks, my best friend Harvey
Speaker 1: came over and sat down along with the other two
Speaker 1: in our friend group. So what's your dad say about
Speaker 1: the whale? Michae lassed, using the sleeve of his shirt
Speaker 1: to white pizza sauce from his face. I shrugged my shoulders.
Speaker 1: All he said was it washed ashore and it was
Speaker 1: too dangerous for me to go see it, I admitted.
Speaker 1: Harvey led it aloud belch after downing his chocolate milk,
Speaker 1: earning a huge laugh from our group and a stern
Speaker 1: look of disapproval from the lunch room monitor in the back.
Speaker 1: I heard, it's already attracted a huge flock of seagulls
Speaker 1: and crows around it, he said. After settling back. Gregory
Speaker 1: chimed in, yeah, and it's covered in slime. We all
Speaker 1: looked at him and laughed. You really need to stop
Speaker 1: reading those dime store pulp novels from your parents bookshelves, man,
Speaker 1: I said, then leaned in close, all of us doing
Speaker 1: the same. I heard it has super sharp and bright
Speaker 1: white teeth, as my older cousin, Jana said, when she
Speaker 1: stopped by this morning. Her and her boyfriend had gone
Speaker 1: for a walk of the beach when they saw it.
Speaker 1: Gregory looked at him. Wait, what is your cousin doing
Speaker 1: with her boyfriend out that early, he asked. Harvey made
Speaker 1: her face, Probably doing some of that gross romantic stuff,
Speaker 1: he said, with a tone of disgust. Each of us
Speaker 1: scrunched up our faces in a similar manner. That's not
Speaker 1: the point, he continued. The point is none of us
Speaker 1: has seen a beach whale before. He looked around at
Speaker 1: each of us, a small, sly smile beginning to etch
Speaker 1: across his face. So what I'm thinking is, why don't
Speaker 1: we go down there after our parents go to bed
Speaker 1: and look at it, maybe even take some pictures with it.
Speaker 1: He pointed at me, Alan, didn't your dad just buy
Speaker 1: you that camera a few weeks ago? I nodded my head.
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, but I began, but he cut me off. Dud,
Speaker 1: Why don't we go make an adventure out of it.
Speaker 1: Go see it, he pressed, looking around hopefully at all
Speaker 1: of us. Michael spoke up, I can't do it tonight, Horve.
Speaker 1: My parents are going out to dinner and leaving me
Speaker 1: with a babysitter. You know, I can't stink past Michelle
Speaker 1: if my life depended on it. Harvey letdard an annoyed snort. Fine,
Speaker 1: maybe not tonight, but what about tomorrow night, he asked.
Speaker 1: He looked at Gregory. Will you say, man, he asked him.
Speaker 1: Grigory sat a little lower in his seat, trying to
Speaker 1: make himself smaller. I don't know, man, he said quietly.
Speaker 1: If mom and dad catch me sneaking out that far,
Speaker 1: I'll get ground for life. This time, Harvey let out
Speaker 1: a disgusted sound. You're such a little chicken shit, he spat.
Speaker 1: We all gasped the swear. Each of us had heard
Speaker 1: our respective fathers let out the occasional curse word around us.
Speaker 1: But after I'd made the mistake of shouting damn it
Speaker 1: when I stubbed my toe trying to fly up the
Speaker 1: back porch steps and was rewarded with a bar of
Speaker 1: soap in my mouth for it, none of us really
Speaker 1: ever said them again. Harvey, being a member of our
Speaker 1: group who liked to break the rules, clearly did not care.
Speaker 1: He raised his hands and shook them in a mocking
Speaker 1: way at us. Ooh, he said, before lowering them down
Speaker 1: and looking at me. About you allan, he asked, you
Speaker 1: come with me tomorrow night. He leaned in and grinned,
Speaker 1: Or you too much of a scaredy cat to come
Speaker 1: with me? I felt my cheeks grew hot and glared
Speaker 1: at my friend. I'm not a scaredy cat, and you
Speaker 1: know it, I growled defensively at him. Who was the
Speaker 1: one who went into the abandoned house last year, I continued,
Speaker 1: And who was the one who climbed into the sewer
Speaker 1: pipe after everyone else chickened out? It was me? I
Speaker 1: sat up straight, trying to sound as unaffected and tough
Speaker 1: as I could. Then come with me, Harvey said, looking
Speaker 1: at our other two friends, and show these two chickens
Speaker 1: how to become a man instead of staying little boys.
Speaker 1: His comment earned mutters and annoyed glances his way, but
Speaker 1: he was focused on me. He knew he had me,
Speaker 1: and so did I. He knew I hated being called
Speaker 1: scaredy or baby, and I would always take the bait
Speaker 1: when he used that line, so darn gullible in retrospect. Finally,
Speaker 1: I looked him dead in the eye. Fine, I'll go
Speaker 1: with you, I said, yes, he said, grinning like he
Speaker 1: had just walked into the Woodworth and been told by
Speaker 1: his pair parents that he could choose whatever he wanted
Speaker 1: for lunch with a root beer float. So here's what
Speaker 1: we do, he said, lowering his voice to barely above
Speaker 1: a whisper. Meet me in back of your house in
Speaker 1: the alley at eleven tomorrow night. We'll bike across the
Speaker 1: bridge and to the dunes where the whalers. So bring
Speaker 1: your camera and we'll get proof that we were there.
Speaker 1: I was about to answer him when the bell rang,
Speaker 1: signaling that lunch was over. He shot me a thumbs
Speaker 1: up as he stood up, dumped his leftovers in the trash,
Speaker 1: and returned his tray. Michael and Gregory patted me on
Speaker 1: the shoulder as they passed me by luck Man, they
Speaker 1: both said, leaving me to stare after them. I wonder
Speaker 1: what on earth I just agreed to. I spent the
Speaker 1: entire rest of the afternoon until the end of school
Speaker 1: staring out the window, unable to concentrate on schoolwork. All
Speaker 1: I could focus on was what I was going to
Speaker 1: do with Harvey. To night, my mom picked me up
Speaker 1: at three. I barely said anything to her about how
Speaker 1: my day went. Instead, I just looked out the window
Speaker 1: over station wagon at the Seuslau River and the hulking
Speaker 1: shape of the dunes on the other side. When my
Speaker 1: father got home that evening from dinner, I ran over
Speaker 1: to him as he sat in his recliner watching television.
Speaker 1: So what happened? I passed her him As he attempted
Speaker 1: to watch the news. He looked at me and gave
Speaker 1: me a tired smile. It's big, all right, he said,
Speaker 1: yawning slightly. It smells like four week old garbage and
Speaker 1: the dump. I'm not sure of how to get rid
Speaker 1: of it. And with that he patted me on the
Speaker 1: head and went back to watching the screen. At dinner
Speaker 1: that evening, he spoke a little more about it to
Speaker 1: my mother when she asked about it. You know, it's strange, darling,
Speaker 1: he said, as he devoured the casserole that she had made.
Speaker 1: Normally this would be a local matter, but for some reason,
Speaker 1: called in the Highway division along with some big wigs
Speaker 1: from the state coat post guard navel bases. It's stranger
Speaker 1: because I swear I saw one or two men studying
Speaker 1: like there's some kind of specimen and a beaker, he added,
Speaker 1: before being shushed by my mother and told to finish
Speaker 1: telling her once little ears code word for me, had
Speaker 1: gone to bed. As they lay in bed that evening,
Speaker 1: attempting to fall asleep and instead gazing around my room
Speaker 1: at the Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen movie posters on
Speaker 1: my wall. I thought about what he'd said. Why would
Speaker 1: such important people want to look at a dead whale?
Speaker 1: I thought, what could possibly be so special about it?
Speaker 1: I shrugged it off, then turned to face the wall
Speaker 1: as I felt the first tendrils of sleep begin to
Speaker 1: seep into me. The next day went by in a blur.
Speaker 1: The words of my teachers and friends echoed in my
Speaker 1: head and went straight in one ear and out the other,
Speaker 1: bouncing around in my brain like a beach ball, never sticking.
Speaker 1: When my mom brought me home, I told her I
Speaker 1: was going to play in the back yard for a
Speaker 1: little while. Go upstairs and change your clothes. Then she called,
Speaker 1: as I took my books upstairs, I'll whoop, You're sorry
Speaker 1: behind if you get grass stains all over your nice
Speaker 1: new school clothes. I did as she said, changing into
Speaker 1: a pair of jeans and a T shirt, before discreetly
Speaker 1: grabbing my father's latest present to me, a brand new
Speaker 1: Kodak instamatic camera and a handful of flashcubes, and heading
Speaker 1: out the back door. In our back yard sat an old,
Speaker 1: rusting Ford model tea which had belonged to my grandfather.
Speaker 1: My father always spoke about restoring it in his memory,
Speaker 1: but ever seemed to find the time to making sure
Speaker 1: my bike was leaning against the side of it where
Speaker 1: it couldn't be seen by my parents. I slipped into
Speaker 1: the cab, hid the camera and flashcubes beneath the seat,
Speaker 1: before stepping back out and throwing a baseball at our fence.
Speaker 1: For a few hours after dinner time, I watched a
Speaker 1: movie being shown on TV with my father in the
Speaker 1: living room I believe it was twenty Thousand Leagues Under
Speaker 1: the Sea, and then kissed both of them good night.
Speaker 1: Went to bed, pretending to fall asleep. I listened and
Speaker 1: at a round ten heard them climb the stairs and
Speaker 1: set the door to their bedroom. I waited another twenty
Speaker 1: minutes to make sure they were asleep, then threw back
Speaker 1: the covers, revealing I still had on jeans, sneakers and
Speaker 1: a shirt, grabbed my coat off the hook behind the door,
Speaker 1: and crept down stairs, careful not to accidentally cause the
Speaker 1: floorboards on the stairs to creak. I slipped out the
Speaker 1: back door, turning up my collar at the chilly fall
Speaker 1: night air, and breathed in deeply. I whispered at the
Speaker 1: smell of the ocean wafting over the dunes into town.
Speaker 1: Then I crept across the backyard to the darkened shape
Speaker 1: of the truck. Reaching through the open window, I retrieved
Speaker 1: the camera and flashcubes with a flashlight that I had
Speaker 1: swiped from under the kitchen sink, grabbed my bicycle and
Speaker 1: wheeled it out into the alley where Harvey was waiting.
Speaker 1: Well did you bring the camera, he whispered, and I
Speaker 1: held it up where it could be seen in the
Speaker 1: yellow street light over our heads. He nodded, then pressed
Speaker 1: a finger to his lips and signaled for me to
Speaker 1: follow him, hopping onto his bike and pedaling away. I
Speaker 1: hopped on my own, and, after flicking on the handlebar,
Speaker 1: mounted light to guide my way paddled after him. The
Speaker 1: town seemed extremely eerie at night, with all the stores
Speaker 1: closed and the houses dark. Felt like biking through a
Speaker 1: ghost town or a nightmare, I thought, before shaking my head.
Speaker 1: The last thing I wanted to do was scare myself
Speaker 1: in the turning around, Harvey would never let me live
Speaker 1: it down. We passed through intersection after intersection, always keeping
Speaker 1: an eye out for other people, and at one point
Speaker 1: we ducked behind a fence as a place. At last,
Speaker 1: car came slowly lumbering down the road, waiting for it
Speaker 1: to pass before continuing on. Soon enough, we passed over
Speaker 1: the bridge leading out of town and towards the dunes,
Speaker 1: the air growing colder and the smell of salt water
Speaker 1: growing thicker as we approached our destination. Finally, we came
Speaker 1: to a point where we couldn't bike any further due
Speaker 1: to the sand catching our tires, and chose instead to
Speaker 1: hide our bikes amongst the far side of the first dunes,
Speaker 1: turning on both our flashlights as we let the yellow
Speaker 1: beams guide our way as we walked to the beach.
Speaker 1: So what do you think is going to look like?
Speaker 1: He asked, his voice filled with obvious excitement and glee.
Speaker 1: I shrugged my shoulders before realizing he couldn't see it
Speaker 1: in the dark. I don't know, it's been a day
Speaker 1: or two. That always told me the birds start eating
Speaker 1: it by now, so I think it'll have like a
Speaker 1: lot of holes in it. He let out a low whistle. Cool,
Speaker 1: he said, I wonder if I could stick my hand in.
Speaker 1: I groaned, don't do that, Harvey, You'll never get the
Speaker 1: smell off you. Then your folks will know we've been
Speaker 1: out here. He scoffed, like I give a damn, he muttered,
Speaker 1: and I shook my head simply. After another five minutes,
Speaker 1: we both stopped. What's that smell, Harvey exclaimed, covering his
Speaker 1: nose and mouth with his hand. And I guess we're close,
Speaker 1: I said, through my own hand. Man, it stinks, he said,
Speaker 1: then continued leading away. I started following him when I
Speaker 1: accidentally walked into his back, nearly crashing to the sand.
Speaker 1: I raised my light to shine on the back of
Speaker 1: his head. What's the deal, he hissed, as my face
Speaker 1: throbbed with pain, but he shushed me, turning around and
Speaker 1: lowering my light. There's someone there, he hissed, back, kill
Speaker 1: your light. We both clicked ours off and listened. He
Speaker 1: was right. I could hear hushed voices coming from up
Speaker 1: the beach in the direction that we were heading sh
Speaker 1: I heard Harvey whisper, and then saw him crouch forward.
Speaker 1: For a moment, I thought about just turning around and leaving,
Speaker 1: and I didn't want to get into trouble, not when
Speaker 1: Mom and Dad are going to take me to Disneyland
Speaker 1: for Christmas vacation in a few weeks. But I couldn't
Speaker 1: just leave Harvey there by himself, so I reluctantly followed him.
Speaker 1: Then I reached him. I stared out at what he
Speaker 1: was looking at over the dune. We could see the
Speaker 1: dark shape of the ocean from here, it's at less
Speaker 1: than a few hundred yards from where we lay on
Speaker 1: our stomachs. He also finally saw the whale. It lay
Speaker 1: on its side, about ten feet from the water's edge.
Speaker 1: Its shape hulking and gigantic, white lined ridges spread out
Speaker 1: the top of its back, while the rest of its
Speaker 1: shape was nothing but smooth blackness. It was easy to
Speaker 1: tell these features because currently there was a light on it,
Speaker 1: a bright one behind it. I could see two or
Speaker 1: three figures standing and talking amongst themselves. Then they began
Speaker 1: to walk towards us down I whispered. Then Harvey and
Speaker 1: I made ourselves as small as possible behind the dune.
Speaker 1: The sound of footsteps digging in and kicking up sand approached,
Speaker 1: and I heard a snippet of the conversation as it
Speaker 1: passed by me. It's incredible, I heard a man say,
Speaker 1: two days out of the water, still maintaining vital signs.
Speaker 1: Combine this with the alterations, I think we discovered a
Speaker 1: whole new species, one far more predatory and dangerous than
Speaker 1: we've ever seen before. We got to get on the
Speaker 1: horn and get this information out. They drew further away,
Speaker 1: and their conversation dimmed and grew intangible again. The two
Speaker 1: of us stood up. What were they talking about, I asked,
Speaker 1: gazing towards the darkness where they'd gone. Who cares, Harvey said,
Speaker 1: shaking the sand off his coat and pants, I mean
Speaker 1: we have a chance to get the pictures. Come on,
Speaker 1: and with that he began running down the last done
Speaker 1: to the giant dark form on the sand. I followed slower,
Speaker 1: though something about the way that the man had spoken
Speaker 1: had made me feel a twinge of uneasiness. Still, I
Speaker 1: plodded behind my friend towards the shape. As I drew closer,
Speaker 1: it rose higher and higher above my head, until it
Speaker 1: seemed to tower over me like one of the buildings
Speaker 1: I saw my parents took me to Portland. Harvey drew
Speaker 1: closer to the side of the creature. The smell was
Speaker 1: overpowering now, and I forced myself to breathe through my
Speaker 1: mouth to keep from gagging. He reached out towards it, Harvey, don't,
Speaker 1: I whispered urgently. Nothing's gonna happen, Alan, he said, putt
Speaker 1: in a mocking tone as he said, my name. It's
Speaker 1: dead after all, remember, And before I could say more,
Speaker 1: he placed his hand on it. Immediately he drew it back,
Speaker 1: his face a look of disgust. Ew he exclaimed what
Speaker 1: I asked, afraid of what he'd say. It's slimy and cold,
Speaker 1: he said, then chuckled. I don't believe it, Gregory. He
Speaker 1: was right. He chuckled again, and then a wave for
Speaker 1: me to follow him around the other side. Before I
Speaker 1: stepped after him, I noticed something odd. The birds had
Speaker 1: barely touched it. I followed after him slowly, and as
Speaker 1: I drew closer I heard him gasp, Holy shit, Alan,
Speaker 1: come look at this, walking quickly around to the edge
Speaker 1: and saw what he'd seen. The whale's mouth was huge.
Speaker 1: It yawned before us like the opening of a cave,
Speaker 1: its teeth looking like the stalagtites and stalagmites at the entrance.
Speaker 1: He was wide enough that we could easily have walked inside. Wow,
Speaker 1: I breathed, staring into the blackness beyond. No joke, Harvey said, excitedly.
Speaker 1: Looks exactly like the whale from Moby Dick. He ran
Speaker 1: away from me down to the other end, and the
Speaker 1: tail is huge, so as white as a car, he called.
Speaker 1: I heard him run back towards me, and he reappeared
Speaker 1: in the light behind us. You got to take a
Speaker 1: picture of me in front of the mouth, Alan, he exclaimed.
Speaker 1: That'd be the ultimate picture to have. All the kids
Speaker 1: at school would think I'm the coolest kid there. I
Speaker 1: glanced around, looking to make sure the men weren't coming back,
Speaker 1: and pulled my camera in a flashball out of my
Speaker 1: coat pocket. All right, but just a few pictures and
Speaker 1: then we get out of here before they come back.
Speaker 1: I hooked a thumb back towards to where they'd gone, yeah, yeah, whatever,
Speaker 1: it's fine. Just take the picture, he insisted, moving to
Speaker 1: stand towards the edge of the mouth. I looked down
Speaker 1: and pushed the flashcube into the slot on the top
Speaker 1: of the camera, then moved away about ten feet to
Speaker 1: make sure I got as much of the whale in
Speaker 1: the shot as well as him. Because I raised the
Speaker 1: viewfinder to my eye, a strange feeling came over me.
Speaker 1: It was almost the same feeling I had when I
Speaker 1: would turn to find my parents watching me out the
Speaker 1: window of the house, the feeling of being watched. But
Speaker 1: when I looked away from the camera, I saw nothing.
Speaker 1: No body, What are you waiting for? Harvey hissed, Take
Speaker 1: the damn picture. Shaking my head, I again raised the camera,
Speaker 1: senter the viewfinder on him, and pressed down on the
Speaker 1: shutter button. The area first split second lit up even
Speaker 1: brighter by the flash of the cube and the burning
Speaker 1: smell that would come with it. To follow, take another,
Speaker 1: he insisted, bending his arm up the way bodybuilders did
Speaker 1: and striking a pose. I did as he said, but
Speaker 1: as I pressed the shutter button, something above him caught
Speaker 1: my head. High over both our heads, I could just
Speaker 1: barely see the edge of one of the whale's eyes.
Speaker 1: It was just a tiny glimpse, but something about it
Speaker 1: seemed seemed off. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness again,
Speaker 1: Harvey picked up a piece of drift wood from the
Speaker 1: sand and held it out like it was a spear.
Speaker 1: He was about to throw one more, he said, chuckling
Speaker 1: as he attempted to look like Captain Ahab. I sighed,
Speaker 1: still feeling like I was being watched, but obediently raised
Speaker 1: the camera to my eye and sent it on my friend.
Speaker 1: That's why I noticed it, a flicker of motion from
Speaker 1: where I had seen the edge of the eye. I hesitated,
Speaker 1: staring at the screen till the viewfinder, noting that there
Speaker 1: was more white than there should have been. But did
Speaker 1: the eye move? I lowered the camera. Uh uh, Harvey,
Speaker 1: I said, tentatively, you might want to get over here.
Speaker 1: He looked at me, annoyed. I will, he said, raising
Speaker 1: the driftwood again, after you take the damn picture. I
Speaker 1: was about to speak again when I heard shouting coming
Speaker 1: from off to the side. Frantic it out of breath,
Speaker 1: I turned and I saw the three men who had
Speaker 1: passed his by sprinting towards us, arms waving over their
Speaker 1: heads like they were trying to signal an overhead an airplane.
Speaker 1: For a second I couldn't make out what they were saying,
Speaker 1: and it became clear, get away from it, for the love
Speaker 1: of God, get away from it. Came a man's cries, Harvey,
Speaker 1: we gotta go, I shouted, no longer trying to be discreet.
Speaker 1: I turned and saw him drop the piece of driftwood,
Speaker 1: a panic look covering his face. What happened next happened
Speaker 1: in a fraction of a second. One moment he was there,
Speaker 1: beginning to run towards me. The next something flashed out
Speaker 1: from inside the whale's mouth as quick as a lightning bolt.
Speaker 1: I didn't get a good look at it, but from
Speaker 1: the little idea, it looked like the tongue. But what
Speaker 1: I ever seen before, it looked like it split apart
Speaker 1: in three places, and is the Oh. The surface of
Speaker 1: it was covered in small, sharp hooks, and in that
Speaker 1: instant they wrapped around Harvey with the fluidity of a
Speaker 1: boa constrictor, and then he was gone. He yanked back
Speaker 1: into the mouth and down its throat. He never even
Speaker 1: had time to cry out. That's when the men reached me.
Speaker 1: One grabbed me around the waist and threw me as
Speaker 1: far as they could, back towards the lights they had
Speaker 1: set up. I fell hard at my side, the air
Speaker 1: driven from my lungs. When I stared up, I felt
Speaker 1: the color drained from my face. The whale was moving.
Speaker 1: It was thrashing about on the sand, and a frenzied
Speaker 1: attempt to reach its next meal, and had found it.
Speaker 1: The man who had thrown me had been snagged in
Speaker 1: the clutches of its tongue, and with the same speed
Speaker 1: that it had taken my friend yanked him back into
Speaker 1: its gullet. He, however, had managed to let out the
Speaker 1: beginnings of a scream. It was choked off as he
Speaker 1: disappeared inside. I scrambled to my feet, unable to keep
Speaker 1: myself from crying. It'snot running down my nose, run kid.
Speaker 1: One of the remaining two men shouted at me, waving
Speaker 1: at me with his arms. I took a last look
Speaker 1: at the thrashing creature on the sand and saw it's
Speaker 1: eye diamond patterned. I filled with a mix of colors
Speaker 1: from black to red. The color focused and locked onto me,
Speaker 1: and I felt my pants damp, and as I pissed
Speaker 1: myself in fear. Screaming, I turned and took the man's advice,
Speaker 1: running for my life back towards where my bike lay hidden.
Speaker 1: I barely remember getting home that night, the frantic pedaling
Speaker 1: back in the town and home as long was dropping
Speaker 1: my bike in my backyard, and getting back into the
Speaker 1: house after a blur. All I know is the next
Speaker 1: thing I remember was my mother shaking me awake, Alan, Honey,
Speaker 1: I need you to focus and tell me something. She said, Seriously,
Speaker 1: have you seen Harvey since school yesterday? I didn't know
Speaker 1: what to say to her. I couldn't bring myself to
Speaker 1: say anything, so instead I simply shook my head. She
Speaker 1: looked at me for a second, then nodded and went
Speaker 1: back downstairs, telling me it was time to get ready
Speaker 1: to go to school. As I got out of bed,
Speaker 1: I realized I dropped my camera when I ran. The
Speaker 1: entire rest of the day, my mind couldn't focus on
Speaker 1: anything but the memories of the previous night. My parents
Speaker 1: and teachers all noticed it, but they chocked it up
Speaker 1: to worrying about my missing friend. When Michael and Gregor
Speaker 1: reapproached me in the cafeteria, I said nothing When they
Speaker 1: asked what happened if he'd gone out there. I just
Speaker 1: told numb. I kept be playing over and over in
Speaker 1: my head that image, image of my friend being snacked,
Speaker 1: being swallowed whole. It's a sight that I'd see for
Speaker 1: years in my dreams, waking me up wearing a sheen
Speaker 1: of cold sweat on my skin. When I got home
Speaker 1: that day, my father was looking at me strangely and
Speaker 1: also disapprovingly. Alan. When I went out to work today,
Speaker 1: I was approached by one of the men working with
Speaker 1: the Highway Division. He said sternly. He said he found
Speaker 1: this lying in the sand out there. He held something
Speaker 1: out to me, but I felt my heart begin to
Speaker 1: raise as he held out my camera, my camera which
Speaker 1: had my name written on the back. He continued, What
Speaker 1: have I told you about taking care of your valuables,
Speaker 1: young man? This camera isn't cheap, and you can't just
Speaker 1: leave it wherever when you go out to the beach
Speaker 1: like we did last weekend. I looked up at him
Speaker 1: in surprise. He handed me the camera. Just be lucky
Speaker 1: it was returned to you. Don't ever pulled us again,
Speaker 1: Do you understand me? I could do nothing, but not
Speaker 1: in my head, lowering it so he couldn't see my
Speaker 1: pale face. He turned and walked away from me, and
Speaker 1: I waited until he was in the kitchen before reaching
Speaker 1: and opening up the back of the camera. Inside it
Speaker 1: was empty. The film cartridge had been taken from it,
Speaker 1: and obviously by someone who didn't want anything coming back
Speaker 1: to me. I never heard from those men again. They
Speaker 1: must have deemed me as not a threat, someone who
Speaker 1: wouldn't speak about what I saw that night, so they
Speaker 1: just left me alone with my returned empty camera as
Speaker 1: a message enough. A day or so later, I sat
Speaker 1: in the living room carpet with my father behind me
Speaker 1: and his recliner. We both watched the news reporter interviewing
Speaker 1: members of the Highway Division as well as members of
Speaker 1: the public who had been kept a quarter mile away
Speaker 1: from the black shape rising from the sand and waves.
Speaker 1: I couldn't help but shudder at the sight of it,
Speaker 1: my eyes filling with tears from my lost friend. A
Speaker 1: few moments later, everyone pulled back that the explosives were detonated,
Speaker 1: sending huge chunks of it into the air. The reporter
Speaker 1: ended the segment, interviewing spectators again and telling viewers that
Speaker 1: the remaining chunks would be buried in the sand. I
Speaker 1: got up and walked out of the living room. They
Speaker 1: hadn't blown it up for the reason they'd said, never
Speaker 1: blow up any whale that beached itself ashore again, not
Speaker 1: even when over forty beached themselves at once nine years later.
Speaker 1: They blew it up because it was the only way
Speaker 1: to destroy that monster. He never found a trace of Harvey.
Speaker 1: His parents spent a year trying to locate him. His
Speaker 1: face ended up on posters in the back of milk cartons.
Speaker 1: Any they'd never find him. Any trace of him was
Speaker 1: obliterated when the explosion went off. I'm sixty four now.
Speaker 1: A few years ago they aired a fifty year anniversary
Speaker 1: segment about the whale, whatever the whale looking creature was,
Speaker 1: and it made me remember all the repressed memories trying
Speaker 1: to lock away in the deepest recesses of my mind.
Speaker 1: I tried to forget again. I can't, so I've decided,
Speaker 1: for the betterment of my mental health, as well as
Speaker 1: possibly a way to soothe the scars of my soul,
Speaker 1: to just post this here. I know nobody will believe it,
Speaker 1: but that's okay. The truth is out there now. Harvey's
Speaker 1: true fate is out there, though his parents are now
Speaker 1: long dead. Two things keep picking away my brain, though
Speaker 1: even in my advanced age, I shudder to imagine if
Speaker 1: it was that dangerous speached on land, what would it
Speaker 1: be like to meet under the waves? Two? And this
Speaker 1: is perhaps what's kept me out of the ocean for
Speaker 1: all these decades. How many more of those things are
Speaker 1: out there? Whither? Kids? It's me, mister Creepasta, And I
Speaker 1: just wanted to tell you thank you so much for
Speaker 1: watching tonight's video or for listening to tonight's episode of
Speaker 1: the podcast wherever you happen to do that. So if
Speaker 1: it's like on YouTube, then you're probably, you know, watching
Speaker 1: the video, But if it's on not then you're probably
Speaker 1: listening to the podcast like with Spotify or Apple or
Speaker 1: something like that. But yeah, thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 1: And it is always I want to give a very
Speaker 1: big thank you to everybody who supports me over at Patreon,
Speaker 1: Patreon dot com slash mister Creepypasta. I cannot thank you
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Speaker 1: that's patreon dot com slash mister creep Pasta or if
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